Telecom
Government Intervention Required to Attract Investments in Telecom- Teniola
The Nigerian Telecommunications industry was once referred to as one of the fastest growing in the world. The situation is, however, a lot different today as many operators are faced with loss of revenue, largely due to the economic recession, over the top players, multiple taxation, insecurity and other issues.
I was recently with Olusola Teniola, President of the Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria, ATCON, and he spoke at length on the some of the challenges in the Telecom industry and the way forward.
Olusola stated that, the reason why investors are not investing in the Telecom industry in Nigeria for now can be looked at from both the macro and the micro economic environment within Nigeria.
Having being in recession for more than two quarters, and the low growth rate of between 0.3% and 0.8%, which is not the kind of growth rate that an investor is looking to invest in. “Investors will be looking for high single digit or double digit growth rate regime to invest in”, he maintained.
He stated that Kenya and Ethiopia are the current leaders in the Telecom industry in Africa at the moment, with Nigeria and South Africa lagging behind. The recession, he declared, has made many capital projects to be put on hold in the Telecom industry which is capital intensive.
Olusola stated that the industry needs the government to create the enabling environment, as well as create a more stable foreign exchange regime because, the multitude of forex windows we currently have, is not encouraging the investor. He also stated that the debt facility problem being faced by about two of the players in the industry.
Speaking on how all these has impacted on the quality of service provided by these Telecom companies, Olusola stated that, there are two aspects to the quality of service provided and this is where the micro economic environment comes in. He emphasized that, one of them is the technical aspect of quality.
The NCC, he said, focuses on the technical aspect of it in terms of the KPI’s set and are usually driven by the ITU standards. The other aspect, he stated, has to do with capacity management, which has to deal with investments in networks. “If you look at the actual composition of the industry to date, there has been an investment of about $68billion, right from the time the industry was liberalized in 2001 to date and that represents quite a significant amount of Dollars flowing in”, he observed.
He emphasized that, about half of the $68billion investment, so far, came in through FDI, and if it is broken down further, only one operator has contributed 50% of that, as about $16billion came from only one operator, where we have many operators.
He opined, that, the investments, so far, has not covered the whole of Nigeria, hence, the industry is still in need of further injection of investment to grow. He said that there are about 150million subscribers where the networks have, so far, deployed in Nigeria.
He made it known that, services to these subscribers, is based on the infrastructure that we have, so far, which was built, predominantly, for voice, but which now also runs e-payments, mobile money, etc.
“You can see that, the struggle to try and keep up with the congestion requires that more capacity has to be put in place and that means funding”, he observed
When asked what he recommends as steps, going forward, Olusola stated that ATCON has always advocated that its members have their equipment and investments protected, which he reiterated, is significant.
He observed that, yes, ICT has now become critical to the success of the Nigerian economy, Telecom, however, is a key factor and an infrastructure player in Nigeria at the moment because, without the infrastructure, we cannot even use our smartphones for any other thing other than to using it for making the basic calls.
On security of the Telecom infrastructure, there has been a liaison with NCC and other security outfits, like the Nigerian Police, to protect these infrastructures.
The Association, he stated, also encourages the reporting of incidences of damages to infrastructures the more instead of just repairing the damages and keeping mum over the damages.
The idea, he maintained, is to raise awareness about the negative impact on the quality of services rendered, caused by tampering with Telecom facilities
Olusola is of the opinion that, it is not about the fact that, whether Floor pricing has to go or has to stay, but it is about innovation, competition and the best consumer choice. The extinction of the CDMA’s, he observed, had to do with the management of the companies involved as well as operating on a regional basis and not on national basis, rather than about pricing.
“The forces that dictate the market chose the GSM technology for many reasons, and one of the reasons is that the SIM card can be divorced from the device and the devices, in my opinion, are actually, more smarter and lovelier in the GSM realm than in the CDMA”, he concluded.
CFA is the Founder, www.CFAtech.ng & Co-producer/Presenter,Tech Trends on Channels Television
Telecommunications operators have resumed full SIM swap and related services following a four-week nationwide outage linked to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC)’s migration to a new verification platform.
The outage rendered millions of subscribers unable to perform SIM-related tasks such as swaps, replacements, and activations.
Operators in the industry say the disruption began on June 26, 2025 when telcos temporarily halted SIM registrations and swaps due to unforeseen technical challenges during the transition to NIMC’s upgraded identity verification system.
The migration was mandated to enhance the integrity and efficiency of national identity management but caused major service interruptions across all Nigerian networks.
However, July 21, both MTN and Airtel confirmed via their social media handles that SIM swap services have now fully resumed.
MTN announced: “SIM swaps have now resumed. We can confirm that NIMC services are fully operational and appreciate their support in the migration to a new platform for NIN verification services for the telecommunications industry.
In a public update issued via its MTN Nigeria Support handle on X (formerly Twitter), MTN confirmed that SIM swaps have now resumed.
Telecom operators complained that the portal was unreliable or inaccessible, which resulted in the suspension of SIM swaps, number porting, and new SIM registrations, even though NIMC maintained that the platform was operating as intended.
Unexpected technical difficulties arose during the switch to the new platform, according to the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria.
Real-time NIN verification for SIM registration, replacement, and network migration was impacted by these issues.
“Unexpected technical difficulties have surfaced, impacting real-time NIN verification for SIM registration, replacement, and porting, following a recent directive from the National Identity Management Commission mandating Mobile Network Operators to transit to a new identity verification platform,” ALTON stated in a previous joint statement signed by Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, and Damian Udeh, publicity secretary.
The World Bank has affirmed that 84 per cent of adults in low-and middle-income economies, including Nigeria, own personal mobile phones.
The bank in its Global Findex 2025 report said mobile phone ownership was widespread and nearly everywhere. It said data from the Global Findex 2025 Digital Connectivity Tracker, revealed that “86 per cent of adults worldwide, and 84 per cent of adults in low- and middle-income economies, own personal mobile phones.”
The report pointed out that mobile phones and the internet had become widespread and essential to daily life in every economy around the world.
A earlier overview had indicated that Nigeria had a high mobile phone penetration rate, with estimates around 85 per cent to 87 per cent in 2024.
This translates to over 200 million mobile connections, making Nigeria a leading market in Africa for mobile phone ownership and usage. While the overall penetration is high, there’s a growing trend towards smartphone adoption, with forecasts predicting over 140 million smartphone users by 2025.
According to DataReporter, a total of 150 million cellular mobile connections were active in Nigeria in early 2025, with this figure equivalent to 64.0 per cent of the total population.
However, note that some of these connections may only include services such as voice and SMS, and some may not include access to the internet.
There were 107 million individuals using the internet in Nigeria at the start of 2025, when online penetration stood at 45.4 percent. Nigeria was home to 38.7 million social media user identities in January 2025, equating to 16.4 percent of the total population.
These headline stats offer a great overview of the “state of digital” in Nigeria at the start of 2025, but in order to make sense of how digital trends and behaviours have been evolving over time, we need to dig deeper into the data.
According to the World Bank, “as of 2024, individual ownership of mobile phones reached 86 per cent of adults worldwide.
“For many people, barely an hour goes by without their using a mobile device to make a call, ext a friend, read the news, access business information, post a meme on social media, pay for something, play a game, engage with a colleague or a customer, or search for information.
“As access to and use of digitally connected technologies increase, people, businesses, and governments place an increasingly high priority on online interactions. “Digitally connected technologies have clear, well-documented benefits.”
It further highlighted that access to mobile phones and the internet was associated with reduced poverty, increased consumption, and more employment for individuals in lowand middle-income economies.
“Women also experience these benefits, as internet access enables access to flexible jobs3 and has been shown to increase female labor force participation. “Mobile phones also facilitate information sharing.
For instance, in agricultural contexts, farmers’ access to real-time prices and buyer demand data can inform their decisions on where to sell, enhancing market efficiency and reducing the distances they would otherwise travel to get the best return for their product and time.
“Internet access also helps create jobs and aids individuals and countries in exporting goods and services,” it added. The World Bank further noted that owning a mobile phone furthermore enabled financial access through mobile money and other mobile financial services.
It added that these financial accounts and services, typically offered by mobile network operators or fintech firms and accessed via networks of local agents, were associated with lower rates of poverty, increased consumption and savings,and greater resilience to economic shocks.
Sophos, a global leader of innovative security solutions for defeating cyberattacks, today announced that it has been named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms (EPP), marking the 16th consecutive time the company has received this recognition.
Sophos has been recognized in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms (EPP) since the inaugural publication for this category in 2007.
Sophos’ market-leading endpoint security solutions include Sophos Endpoint powered by Intercept X, Sophos Extended Detection and Response (EDR/XDR), and Sophos Managed Detection and Response (MDR).
Over 300,000 organizations trust Sophos endpoint security solutions to defend against cyberthreats, including advanced remote ransomware attacks and active adversaries.
Unique to Sophos, the solution includes adaptive defenses that automatically disrupt attackers by dynamically adjusting protection levels based on threat context.
“Sophos’ strength lies in its prevention-first strategy, designed to stop breaches before they start, adapt defenses in real time, and strengthen detection and response when it matters most,” said Kyle Falkenhagen, SVP, Product Management, Sophos. “We believe that receiving this recognition in the highly competitive endpoint security market for 16 consecutive reports reflects our relentless focus on developing innovative solutions that stay ahead of the global threat landscape and the adversaries we face every day.”
Sophos and Secureworks: The future of protection, detection, and response
Following Sophos’ acquisition of Secureworks in February 2025, combining two leading and complementary portfolios to offer a comprehensive suite of solutions for small, midmarket and enterprise organizations.
Secureworks Taegis XDR customers can use Sophos Endpoint to elevate their cyber defenses, at no additional charge, delivering both improved protection and return on investment.
The integration of Secureworks also adds a new Counter Threat Unit (CTU) to the Sophos X-Ops advanced threat response joint task force, further expanding the rich threat intelligence that informs all customers’ defenses.
Backed by Sophos’ advanced security technologies and a broad network of intelligence contacts and partners, the CTU plays a critical role in identifying and tracking threat actors and analyzing anomalous activity, uncovering new attack techniques, threats, and major shifts in the threat landscape.
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